St. Patrick Church in Cleveland’s West Park neighborhood reopens doors

CAROL KOVACH/SUN NEWSThe doors are open once again at historic St. Patrick Church at Rocky River Drive and Puritas Avenue in Clevelandâs West Park neighborhood.

CLEVELAND The atmosphere was electric as members of St. Patrick West Park Church returned to reopen their beloved parish July 22.

Twenty-six months after the 164-year-old parish was shuttered by Bishop Richard Lennon as part of a downsizing of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, the doors opened again.

St. Patrick was one of 11 parishes that successfully appealed its closing. In March, the Vatican upheld 11 of the 12 appeals and ordered the churches reopened.

Lennon opted not to appeal the Vatican’s ruling, paving the way for the churches to be restored. Opening Masses are being celebrated at each church by the new pastors. All are expected to be open by August.

St. James in Lakewood, another of the reopened churches, was scheduled to celebrate its first Mass July 25, the feast of its parish patron saint.

At St. Patrick, the Rev. James Ols, a native son of the parish, was named pastor. He replaces the Rev. Thomas Hagedorn, the longtime pastor who retired when the church closed in May 2010.

More than 1,000 people jammed into the church on the sunny, hot Sunday morning to celebrate. The crowd burst into applause as the altar servers, lector Paul Racette, Ols and Hagedorn processed to the altar for Mass.

Ols gave a stirring homily, recalling how he discovered his vocation as a priest when he was a student and a parishioner at St. Patrick.

“I never imagined I would be back here as pastor,” he said. “It’s very emotional for me.”

He also recalled how he has been slightly out of touch since taking over as pastor July 16.

“I haven’t read the newspaper in a week and I haven’t been able to watch television. The phone hasn’t been hooked up yet, so it’s been very quiet,” he said, adding, “I’m sure that will change.”

Parishioners and others who attended the Mass applauded again after Ols concluded his homily.

The church parking lot was filled more than a half-hour before Mass started and it was standing room only inside, but no one seemed to mind. Parishioners, some of whom hadn’t seen each other in two years, were greeted with hugs and tears of joy.

No one was in a hurry to leave after Mass ended. A social in the lower church helped people, many of who attended various other churches during the past two years, get reacquainted.

And Ols stood patiently outside, in his vestments, greeting his new flock.

Because the church was closed for so long, Ols said they could not reclaim the previous phone number. He expected the parish phone line, (216) 251-1200, to be operational by July 23.

West Park Catholic Academy, which was formed when the former St. Patrick and Ascension schools merged, remains open on the St. Patrick grounds. The school continued operating throughout the parish’s closure.

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